It was a profitable Saturday night trip to Huntington Ross High School for the trio of high school boys basketball squads from North Adams High School as the Green Devils were not very good guests, knocking off the Huntsmen in the freshman, JV, and varsity contests.
After posting a 44-13 win in the freshman game that opened the evening, Coach Rob Meade and his JV Devils took the court and handed the JV Huntsmen another thumping, winning by a score of 39-17. North Adams led 14-3 after the first quarter and never looked back, leading 19-6 at the half and 26-13 after three quarters, before outscoring Huntington 13-4 in the fourth to seal the deal.
“We struggled a little with finding a rhythm during this game.,” said Coach Meade. “Having to sit guys quarters so they would be available to help the varsity messed with our chemistry, but we got some timely baskets from Elijah Young and Bryant Lung that kept us in control of the game.”
North Adams, 6-4 after the win, was led by 14 points from Young and 6 from Lung on a pair of three-point goals. Seth Daulton chipped in 5 for the winners.
In the varsity contest, the Green Devils were down two starters who were out for disciplinary reasons, and needed a “next man up” mentality. They got that from sophomore Ryan Shupert, who came off the bench to fire in 17 points in three quarters of play, including five three-pointers.
Things looked gloomy for the visiting Devils after the first quarter, when they were outscored by the Huntsmen 20-9, staying even that close thanks to a pair of treys from Patrick England, but unfortunately the home team drilled five threes in the first period to build the double digit lead.
The Green Devils regained their composure in the second stanza and outscored Huntington 11-4, holding the Huntmen scoreless for the first four minutes of the quarter to cut the gap to just 24-20 at halftime.
“We came out flat in the first half and settled for too many three-point shots,” said North Adams head coach Nathan Copas. “We didn’t attack the rim and to give up 20 points in the first quarter was unacceptable.”
The Huntsmen held their lead after the third quarter, where they outscored North Adams 13-11, to head to the final eight minutes with a 37-31 advantage. Huntington led 46-43 with 1:32 to play but didn’t score again as the Devils finished the game on a 9-0 run, taking the lead for good on another England three and hitting 6 of 8 free throws to rally from behind and grab victory from the jaws of defeat, topping the Huntsmen 52-46.
“In the second half our defense got much better,” said Copas. “With two starters out, we needed someone to step up and Ryan Shupert just put us on his back and helped lead us to this win.”
In the win the Devils, who moved to 6-4, Shupert led three players in double figures with 17, followed by Trey Meade with 14 and Patrick England with 11.
JV BOX SCORE
NAHS 14 5 7 13 —39
HHS 3 3 7 4 —17
NAHS (39): Lung 2 0-0 6, Campbell 1 0-0 3, Call 1 0-0 2, Daulton 2 1-1 5, Figgins 1 0-0 2, Young 6 0-0 14, Gill 0 2-2 2, Rogers 2 0-0 4, Reeves 0 1-2 1, Team 15 4-5 39.
Three-Point Goals: Lung 2, Campbell 1, Young 2
VARSITY BOX SCORE
NAHS 9 11 11 21 —52
HHS 20 4 13 9 —46
NAHS (52): England 4 0-1 11, Shupert 6 0-2 17, Sheeley 1 3-4 5, Gingerich 1 0-2 2, T. Meade 3 8-11 14, C. Meade 1 1-3 3, Team 16 12-23 52.
Three-Point Goals: England 3, Shupert 5
